4/8/2003
By now all of you are familiar with Google and most of you probably use it as your primary tool for researching. Back in college I migrated over to it entirely (history major) as I had little need to purchase books when I could simply access libraries of primary sources via my computer.
Now you’ve been pondering how you can popularize your blog and would like to increase your traffic in some way. Below is one technique that Robert Loch stumbled upon when using the terms “Anna Kournikova” and “Penthouse” together in the same post. I found this when I came across a post by Richard Giles who adds his commentary to Loch’s:
Loch: “Google sends me 1000 Anna Kournikova fans in the space of 4 hours
One post about Anna Kournikova and Penthouse, and my site gets flooded. Somehow, my timely post got to no. 1 under the search term ‘anna kournikova penthouse.’ Since then my visitor profile has somewhat changed ;-) Still, from a marketing perspective, this does demonstrate the potential for opportunistically using news events to bring users to your site.”.
Giles: Loch took it one step further and changed his Blog Title to include the words, “Anna Kournikova Penthouse - Marketing Blog - Anna Kournikova Penthouse”, because Google’s search results list the title of web pages, this is the first thing a Google searcher will see. He also made sure that he mentioned Anna’s name, nude pictures, and Penthouse throughout his site for a good month after the first post.
Loch: “For 15 days I held the no.1 spot on Google for the term ‘Anna Kournikova Penthouse,’ the 3rd most popular search term. Obviously Google traffic is many times large that Overtures. Whilst that traffic was useless to me, imagine what a site selling Anna Kournikova posters could have done with my 40,000 plus Anna Kournikova Penthouse related visitors. Using a blog to jump on news stories, and then redirect traffic, does appear to me to be a feasible net marketing tactic. Bloggers will hate me saying that, but hey, I didn’t invent the technology, or decide how Google rates weblogs.”.
Giles: Although this is an extreme example, because anything to do with naked pictures of Anna is likely to generate a large amount of traffic, it does demonstrate what can be done using topical information and Google structured Blogs.
This is certainly one technique that you could deploy to bring in short-term traffic. This Slashdot-effect (as Mr. Giles discusses as well) will most probably bring you both 43 and 14 year old single males, but unless you plan on maintaining a Porn-based blog (they do exist) you should keep doing what you do best and what you enjoy. If it is traffic you want, just goto my main page (for those reading this in the archive) and look at the Syndication list. Currently I have over 40 different sites that will happily syndicate your blog (freely, no money involved) in some manner and I find more each week (feel free to email me if you have one not on the list).
For those of you who would like to get their hands dirty in an effort to make your blog the creme de la creme I recommend visiting WebmasterWorld.com and SitePointForums.com (I visit SPF personally, but WW has some excellent resources, in addition an engineer that works at Google posts there).
If you visit SPF, here is their section on search engines in general along with their Google specific one. here. And if you really want to do some research, just look up Search Engine Optimization on Google and you’ll be set for an undisclosed amount of time (until something better than Google comes out).
Moving along, Mark Pilgrim wrote a book discussing simple tweaks you can do to make your website and weblog more accessible. It’s called: Dive Into Accessibility - 30 days to a more accessible web site and from what I’ve read, it looks like a winner (it’s “free” too). One particular techinque he describes is useful for anyone that uses javascript to link users from point A to point B. Here he states that:
“The scourge of web design is the “javascript:” link, a pseudo-link that executes a piece of Javascript code when you click on it. The most common place this problem occurs in weblogs is in the link to display comments in a separate window. Why is it a problem? Because 11% of Internet users don’t use Javascript for one reason or another, including many disabled users whose browsers simply don’t support it. These pseudo-links won’t work for them; use real links instead.
Although it’s easy to describe and simple to fix, I can’t stress enough how important this tip is. Some problems, like not having a “skip link” past your navigation bar, reduce usability to varying degrees, but at least your page can be read eventually. On the other hand, this problem actually makes entire chunks of important content completely inaccessible. If your comments are hidden behind a “javascript:” link, they may as well not exist.”
Much of his ebook is written like that, where he explains a problem and then below it, describes a workable solution in easy-to-follow steps.
If you want a few quick pointers on how to attract more ‘useful’ (non-Kournikova-esque) traffic to your weblog, visit this post at the PlasticBag.
And now for some more meat. Anders Jacobsen of Norway (Swanson…) has a great series for Optimizing MovableType to Get More Readers. In fact, I came across several links I’ve mentioned today (and yesterday and probably tomorrow too) thanks to him.
Begin by reading his post about installing MT (he migrated from Blogger), those steps seem to be ‘rock-steady’ — use Collectrix as your host though [shameless plug] — I got a friend to help me with cgiwraps and I recommend trying to secure your site/blog as best as possible (aside from unplugging the server from the network). Part 2, he discusses ‘Google-Juicing’ (just little ways to attract traffic via Google). This statement best describes how everyone can obtain more traffic:
“Finally: The ultimate tip for getting hits from search engines: Make good content that people want to link to. It’s as easy as that. Following all the tips above plus optimizing your archive strategies are only going to get you to a certain point… If you’re not writing interesting things, why should people bother visiting your pages anyway?”
So stop sucking, I mean it.
In his last segment (for now) he lists several syndication techniques to promote your blog (all of the sites are ones I have listed, no need to worry). If you are gearing your blog to klogging (knowledge-based logs… versus unknowledge based logs, heh) visit KMpings. It along with, Robert Loch’s Net Marketing blog (check out his archives, great stuff) can give you the tools, tips and even training on creating a more robust and feature-filled blog (something that can soak up traffic like a sponge). [Extra Special Note: BlogRoots is by far one of the best collections of Blogosphere information as it is updated continually throughout the day. From software to tools to trends, this is a must visit.]
Lastly, if you want to reinvent and/or redesign your blog, visit the 2003 Weblog Awards and peruse the nominee’s and winners to see what the “hip & in” thing is now (note: yes, some of the sites aren’t the best, that’s why judging is called subjective).
News.com has a story regarding the latest on Intel & Via and how all pending cases are now settled between the two. The article does a great job detailing the background of the cases, some of which I recall as the happened (especially with Rambus debacle — oh and S3 sorta just disappeared, weird).
If you don’t already do it, visit the Google Blog once a week or so to get the latest information regarding everyone’s favorite search engine. Before getting into a few headlines, read up on Aaron Swartz, the fellow behind that blog and other geeky things.
This NY Times article discusses some new strategies Yahoo is implementing in an effort to regain ground lost to Google. Microsoft is also targeting its sights on the still privately-held company,
“We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We believe that we can provide consumers with a better product and a better user experience. That’s something that we’re actively looking at doing,” Bob Visse, director of marketing for Microsoft’s MSN Internet services division, said.
Of course they, if you aren’t a division of Microsoft or partially owned or in some sort of partnership or alliance, you are competitor in their eyes (rightly so). It was just a matter of time that someone from MS came out and opined that.
Remember when Google lost its exclusive contract with Yahoo? What about Yahoo buying Inktomi, remember that? What about when Overture purchased Altavista? If you answered no, be sure to check out the Google Blog and Slashdot (and Kuro5hin). Don’t be suprised, be informed.
I saw this story off of TheInquirer (a UK Tech Zine) regarding the upcoming x86-64 optimized software for the new AMD Opterons. They refer to this XbitLabs list. Notice all the major distributions of Linux (and BSDs) either have one ready or will soon (that’s great news for webhosting companies like Collectrix.com - “free” industrial-grade software readily available for use. I’ll let you know when the upgrades will be - this Newisys is one I have in mind).
Although I no longer use any software that takes advantage of them, I enjoy reading up on the latest in video card development. Scott Wasson over at Tech-Report.com reviewed nVidia’s latest behemoth, the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra. Here is the story, here is an image of what this double-decker card looks like in meatspace (yes, it essentially takes up two (2) slots). And here is an image showing its size against the leading competition, the ATI 9800 Pro.
There are 18 pages of charts and tests, so here is the conclusion to Scott�s thorough testing. What do I think? All of the information he provided (especially on page 4) agreed with nearly everything I read about in the rumor-mills (TheInquirer) - that the NV30 is a day late and a dollar short (too much really). Even if I had the will and capability I would voluntarily pass up the opportunity to purchase this product.
By now you have a pretty good idea I’m stopping at almost nothing to create the best blog syndication list around. David messaged me right before I was going to catch some sleep (30+ hours and still going) and said that MSNBC had a weblog section I should look at.
Hehe, well I’m really not too worried after looking at their collection, but anyways, here are some links I did not have:
Hidden in this cache of what they call their Weblog Index was Weblogs Hidden in the Stars - You know how I said someone should setup BlackListedBlogs.com to warn the world of unpleasant looking sites? Well here is an example. There really isn’t much rhyme or reason to the site, just hyperlinks hidden behind images of stars and galaxies. In addition, there is no clear syndication method, though I assume Dumbmonkey is a moderator of some sort. Let me know if you find out anything else.
Fotolog.net (note: the editors at MSNBC added an 8080 at the end, I’m not quite sure why, works just as well without the Apache port reference). Compared to Photoblogs.org, Fotolog.net is both larger in terms of # of loggers and votes/day. Additionally, I find the layout at Fotolog.net more inviting (I’m partial towards white backgrounds) — try out both, tell me what you think.
AllConsuming.net - I mentioned Book Watch yesterday and it appears Erik Benson also found BW interesting, stating: Inspired by Book Watch, I created a script that visits newly updated weblogs hourly via Weblogs.com (if you’d like to let me know that there are books on your page, use weblogs.com’s ping form). The script then looks for links to Amazon.com items and saves them. I then aggregate all that information together to find the most frequently mentioned books. My scoring mechanism is weighted to favor recently mentioned books, so that the list remains fresh, and offers new insight into what the weblog community is reading at the moment. Check out the javascript here and see what you can do In No Time At All ™.
BlogCritics - A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, and technology - updated continuously. Do you have a blog and an interest in popular culture? Then email the editor, Eric Olsen. They’ve won several awards including the 2003 Bloggie for Music and listed as a nominee in Forbes Best Media Blog.
Blogmints - Dead, due to “lack of interest” however Justin created a new site similar to Madville and Catch called Linkfilter. In his own words: linkfilter.net is just what the name implies, a link filter. All links are posted and moderated by users. Links can be ranked on several levels: clicks, votes, age, or a combination of all three called points. So if you think other people would enjoy reading your article on how many marshmallows you could stuff in your mouth at the same time, then submit away.
Roses of the Blogoshpere- Mrs. Lynn was inspired after reading several outrageous generalizations about women bloggers. The idea was to prove a point about the diversity of interests among women bloggers. So if you’re a woman and have a blog or want to start blogging, check out Roses.
Additionally, there are two Blog webrings solely for women: Belle Blogs and Blogs by Women.
NYU Weblog Portal - Representing the NYU Students Who Be Bloggin’ Worldwide. Requirements: you either are or used to be a NYU student. This is similar to what we are planning on doing with AggieBlog & BevoBlog [shameless plug].
Boston Blogs - Fairly straight forward, just focus primarily on Boston and you shouldn’t have much of a problem joining it — no hazing anymore (see for yourself)
That’s it, that’s all MSNBC could muster. I’ll try to go through some of the ones Forbes did as well, soon.
Where to begin with this batch of blogtastic list of links.
Every other day or so I’ll come across a blog that has a several links that require me to pore over, today’s was from a site with the motto: Trust me, I’m a librarian. I don’t speak a lick of Norwegian or any Scandanavian language at that, but that is not needed when scouring blogs for links — you just guess and check, just like chemistry class. I originally found this subsite of links from Anders Jacobsen’s Part 3 on Optimizing MovableType.
Here they are in no particular order:
The Red Kitchen - Now this is a fun side for food aficionados and people that like food aficionados. You can submit your own recipes here manually, or those of you who have a TrackBack enabled blog (like MT), ping them here - you can now show the world your families secret delicatessen. So out of the 27 visitors, 6 can’t read English, 11 can’t cook, 7 will look at the recipe and mess up the measurements, 2 will attempt to eat the print out and 1 will successfully bake an apple pie (when it was How to make a Glazed Meatloaf).
Book Review repository - This is yet another Anders Jacobsen blog. Here he lets anyone (MT-users specifically) ping his server regarding a book they reviewed. In his own words:
“The idea is simple: other MT users can “ping” this site whenever they write a review, and the site will automatically link back to the entry. There is a list of categories and each category has a different “Ping URL”.
The benefits to the author is: The content remains on your server, not mine, or amazon’s or anyone elses. This way we can collectively gather a nice collection of reviews and still own the content ourselves.”
I know quite a few bookworms out there, too bad most of them are computer illiterate & blog deficient, so you guys need to work double shifts to make up for their inabilities.
Norske blogger - Inactive as of August 2002, a group Norwegian-based bloggers (I need to cover my back in case they become active again).
Nettdagbok - This is a webring for Norwegian bloggers. I’m not sure about you, but that name sounds Klingon than anything else (all offense taken).
Librarian blogs - Well, not only do they guard the Holy Temple of Humanity, but they also plot their plans of conquest and domination for the world (usually other librarians) to see.
Popdex - This free service allows you to find out just how popular your blog is. Based on my current stats I should actually try more of the syndication services I blog about. I found it off of royby’s blog which I found off of Jill Walker’s blog — the Six Blogging Degrees of Tim Swanson, who will I find next?
Blogphiles - I came upon this site (blog ring) a few weeks back but I thought it was inactive. Apparently not however, as royby has an active link to the blog ring. Blogphiles was also nominated for a Bloggie Award under the Best Weblog Ring category (it didn’t win however).
Windy City Bloggers - This is for bloggers in and around the Chicago area. I pity you and your weather (I expect your pity during the Texas Summers).
Blogs & Pets - A weblog webring dedicated to the bloggers whom are owned by pets. It is the hope of its creators that you will be able to teach your master some new tricks along with the ability to leave the lid down. If I had a photogenic mammal within my domain I would join, so should you.
Picture This - A general photoblog webring for GreyMatter & MovableType users.
Blogging Brits - I mentioned Birmingham and Londoner based blogs yesterday, so here is the all inclusive Briton weblog webring. If you make me an honorary anglophile I would be very obliged [insert stereotypical statement regarding scones and tea].
Aussie Blogs - For Aussies, By Aussies - FABA. In addition to bringing Oz to other Ozians, they have a great picture of Sydney (you can always tell by that Opera House).
Aussie Weblog Webring - I don’t know the name of that particular landmass pictured, however it looks similar to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming which was in Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind (as opposed to the 5th).
MT Webring - For MovableType users only. This is similar to the MT Blog Ring which still has yet to add me to their list (add me).
Yahoo Weblog Directory - Yes, I stumbled upon them. Add yourself to the list of luminaries - they aren’t too discriminatory it appears as somehow Fark got on there (not a blog site). The submission button is in the inconvenient top right part labeled as “Suggest a Site.” I’m not sure how long it will take to process, but if you do the “free” service, expect many moons.
BlogPromo Yahoo Group - “Dead On Arrival” will there be a sequel like a video game? If you’re into Yahoo Groups then and you want to resurrect it, let me know, I’ll make another gratuitous post regarding your endeavour.
Bookwatch - These guys just watch books to see how they operate in their natural setting. Occassionally one will get up and walk off, but that only happens when one of those librarians at Libdex reshelves them. Bookwatch doesn’t really syndicate per se, they just collate the books pinged onto Weblogs throughout the day - so maybe you do get syndicated, if you do that wild thing.
Blogfodder - No real syndication takes place (although viewers could be inspired by your musings and visit your site). It is, a daily micro-mail that contains a word, phrase, link, or image that could spark an idea that could lead to a train of thought that might someday become the seed of a weblog post. It’s actually pretty fun, you just need to have either an imaginative wordsmithing capability or a large vocabulary.
Meerkat - I see this all over the place, it really doesn’t do syndication for “normal” blogs, you have to be syndicated by a larger “more important” website already. So, either become famous now or fool them and add your own feed somehow (please your plan worked).
iQuality - Think you have a slick website that oozes with both simplicity and intuitiveness? Well, if Apple isn’t hiring you could at least submit your blog to these guys for further review.
And I leave you with a funny Googlewashing story from TheRegister. My favorite quote:
“Pew Research Center’s latest research says the number of Internet users who look at blogs is ” so small that it is not possible to draw statistically meaningful conclusions about who uses blogs.” They peg it at about four per cent. But we’re looking at a small sub-genre of blogdom, the tech blogs, and specifically, we’re looking at an ‘A list’ of that sub- sub-genre.”
Will this revolution be televised? (Hehe, I can just hear Chris Rock say that).
Somehow MT posted the same blog twice, please pardon this, I’ll try to refrain from doing it more than once a week. To make the best of an OK situation, here is the FAQ for BlogFodder. Also, here is a javascript program I found to list referrers (as you can see I’m getting traffic hand over fist). Here is Disenchanted a similar concept but only cache’s for 20 minutes. I couldn’t find a similar plug-in at MT-Plugins, however I did find this one that could do the trick so as long as you have access to root. Just install AWStats and the plug-in and you’re good to go (it’s a better version of Webalizer and Analog).
And since I’m really grasping at straws, here is large compilation of RSS readers.
Mining through sites like a search engine bot, that’s what I’ve done throughout the past week (I didn’t go to bed at all last night either).
Devious, an Independent weblog directory. Site submission is down temporarily, until after April 9th (or so the administrator claims).
AntiBloggies - You’ve seen the “Official” Bloggie Awards - here is the unofficial, counterculture, iconoclastic, avant-garde group unpromoting their antiawards.
Blogcontrol.com - A review of tools for blogging software and blog utilities.
BlogTrack lists and dispays blogs as they are updated, letting you read many blogs in a fraction of the time you would normally use. BlogTrack displays all the current entries from the blogs listed in a blogroll. You can either create your own Custom Blogroll or use the Blogroll of a reference blog. A current entry is either a posting made in the last 24 hours or since the last time you took a checkpoint. Oddly enough, that info was found here and not at the BlogTrack homepage.
Blogdexter will help you jump to the page on blogdex that displays the web addresses of people who have linked to your url.
A Large Head - Great name and some useful information as well. She spearheaded the Antibloggie Awards and apparently is the gal in charge of DFW Blogs (add me por favor).
backBlog is a feedback system for bloggers and web page owners. It allows you to receive feedback from readers for entries you write in your blog or web page. Similar to Popdex and Blogrolling ([ed.]backBlog is currently not taking new members, so I’ll have to look at it later for a final call).
You know how I was bragging about how one doesn’t need a translator to mine links on the web? Well, that still is true, but it is awfully hard to navigate and submit your own site to say, an Italian-based blog directory. I managed to run into four of them: GNUeconomy.net, Blot-It, BlogNews & Bloggando. Even with Babelfish I had difficulties trying to figure out how to submit my blog (I have no clue what I submitted it to, spam here I come). Wrapping up our tour of the boot-shaped landmass is the Italian Blog webring.
The Jen/Jenn blog webring. Whether you are a Jen, Jenn, Jenna, Jennifer, Jennita, Jennalyn, Jenny, Jendaya… something with Jen and a weblog, join up. Haha, the most creative one I’ve seen so far.
Santo de Casa - To all of my Brazilian readers, pay close attention to the buttons on the left, I think they mean something and link to someplaces (actually I do know 2 people in Brazil, neither blog though).
The University of Florida Blog Webring created by Leia: All I’ve got to say is: Gig’em Aggies.
Rutherford High School blog webring (also by Leia — I’m trying to suck up to her): I actually went to an RHS myself, Richardson High School.
B2 blog ring - if you aren’t familiar with Cafelog, check it out - it�’s basically a lite version of MovableType (Michel apparently has come back too).
BLOGware - simple yet detailed graphics and icons for your personal weblog (I should probably do something to jazz up this blog, any suggestions?).
The Ageless Project, their goal: We’re sending the message that the personal, creative side of the web is diverse and ageless and if each of you personal website builders out there will openly share your date of birth with us, we’ll be on our way to proving it! The application is quick, easy and harmless. Dolphin-friendly.
Need some sites to ping after you update (in addition to Weblogs and blo.gs), try Wander-Lust (join their ring too) and Rootblog (basically it’s Blogarama with a ping form)
David sent me this link of Chris Pirillo. Yes, that is the same Chris that runs LockerGnome. Yes that is the same Chris on TechTV. Yes that is the same Chris who, well I don’t know much more about him. I do know that Jason DeFillippo (a friend of Chris) is now toning up for the Gnomedex Olympics.
If you hablas en espanol muy bien, then head on over to the Blogdir, because they are a directory of Spanish-speaking blogs. Additionally, Bitacoras is also a comunidad de weblogs en espanol (glad I learned Spanish instead of German now).
BlogMatrix - is a blog tracking system that is still in beta. You can add your blog to their directory , however they insist that you rewrite the template to meet their needs. I added mine without rewriting the template; I’ll look into what exactly they change to make their bots happier when they index my site with the rewrite.
Inventory - another independent blog directory, but with a twist. They take a snapshot (literally) of your website, so be creative or at least non-vanilla (I’m one to talk) when joining the directory.
Blog of the Day. Nominate yourself (I did) or someone you know - they are simple and consistent with their plan, give it a shot.
Z-List is trying to build networks for “the underblogdexed.” Signing up is pretty simple, just post once on their forum and they’ll add you to their list.
For those just can’t wait for more places to syndicate their thoughts and erotic fantasies, try Memepool, Fark, Madville or Catch. I can’t promise they’ll accept the links, but I do promise that you’ll have to fill out registration forms, can you handle that? (Note: I’ll talk about those 4 sites in the next week or so).
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, visit Metaweblog. It is creating an SQL database to collate thousands of blogs each day (off of Weblogs.com). In the future they hope to add a “Submit site” to their feature list.
Organica - Still in the crawling stages, and makes statistics on what’s popular right now, related sites, who links to who, which tools are being used, webservers being used for weblogs and so on. In particular there will be a useful xml feed of “interesting stuff right now”. My blog has uhh, [lowers head in shame].
Vecindario - Spanish-speaking community of bloggers, looks nice enough (I�ll try to stay English-only, just giving my yearly output of bilingualism today).
Microdoc’s News is a weblog magazine dedicated to discussing personal power in the Information Age. Check out the article “Blogging is not Journalism.”
Enetation - This is a 3rd party utility for implementing a comment system on your blog — similar to Haloscan.
TopicExchange - The first of its kind that I’ve seen. It is a TrackBack driven website, though a little light on the substance currently. Ping away.
eCuaderno - I have to plug this site by Dr. Jose Luis Orihuela of Pamplona Spain. Despite the language barrier, I found some great resources for syndication (that�s where many of the Spanish sites came from, you guessed that too).
The Weblog Review - Register and try to submit your weblog for review. Don’t be surprised if it is not processed, they seem to be continuously busy and in high demand. I’ll grade your site, for a price. They are also the same guys running BlogControls.
Inner Balance also assisted my travels as I had not seen several links regarding blog syndication.
I think that makes up sufficiently for the lack of links yesterday. Now enjoy this as I did (found it here):
